Neel Kashkari’s father Chaman Nath Kashkari left for the US soon after completing his engineering in 1950. “It was a big family with a house right on the banks of the Jhelum,” says cousin Sham Lal Kashkari, who now lives in Jammu. “Both his brothers are dead. We have met Neel’s father a few times. He used to attend marriages in the family. We haven’t seen his children.” In fact, Neel Kashkari’s uncle Som Nath Kashkari was a known city doctor.

Chrungu and Wani, meanwhile, walk towards the bridge. “This is where the house stood,” says Chrungo, pointing at an iron electric pole at the river bank. A few feet away, the Somyar mandir, one of Srinagar’s ancient temples, stands in all its grandeur. It is surrounded by bunkers and spools of barbed wire. “There’s no Kashmiri Pandit here. It is just us,” shouts a CRPF jawan from behind the sandbags.